


Learn The Rules Like A Pro, So You Can Break Them Like An Artist

by lisachan



Series: Leoverse [243]
Category: Glee
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-01
Updated: 2020-03-01
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:00:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22975171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lisachan/pseuds/lisachan
Summary: It's Leo's birthday, but it isn't a happy one. Last month he had a huge fight with Cody, and since then the two haven't spoken again. Pete wants to fix this situation, and decides to do it in an unconventional way.
Relationships: Blaine Anderson/Original Male Character(s), Original Male Character/Original Male Character
Series: Leoverse [243]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/30541
Collections: COWT - Clash Of the Writing Titans/Chronicles Of Words and Trials





	Learn The Rules Like A Pro, So You Can Break Them Like An Artist

**Author's Note:**

> **WARNING:** This story is a spin-off sequel for Broken Heart Syndrome. This means that it depicts things happening way late in the 'verse, and that may be on varying degrees of spoiler.  
> At some point, way late in the series, the various universes we've created will start to collapse and crash into one another.  
> This story is about Pete using the connection between the universes he handles to give Leo something good and cheer him up on the day of his birthday, which has been ruined by the fact that he's currently not on speaking terms with Cody, which is a thing that could destroy the life of way more mentally stable men (which Leo isn't, anyway).  
> Written for this year's COWT #10, Week 5, M1, the prompt of which was _plot twist_.

Being the obsessively self-involved person that he is, Leo is always very happy when his birthday comes. He usually organizes a party where he invites all his closest friends and family and cooks an outrageous amount of food to feed them. He gathers all his presents and he opens them one by one, thanking everyone, showcasing them proudly, celebrating himself as the gift of nature to mankind he undoubtedly believes to be. Then he spends the night literally stuck with Blaine, usually asking for one or more sex sessions – up to five, if Pete remembers correctly from the stats he collected over the years (not that he collects stats exclusively on Leo’s sex life; he collects them about everything and anything concerning the universe, and Leo’s sex life disconcertingly is one of the factors that come into the picture more often than not) – until they’re both too tired to go on, and then finally fall asleep.

Celebrations can be as long as one week depending on Leo’s mood and the instance where they take place. There are universes in which Leo is a person in a very high position of power, and over there celebrations can last even longer than a week. There is one specific instance, very nice context, not the easiest to handle, but Pete managed anyway because that’s how much of an outstanding professional, where Leo is a king, even though not the first – there are two people ruling there, but that’s not necessarily the point –, and over there celebrations for Leo’s birthday are called the Heavenly Rejoicing, and they last the whole season. _Heavenly rejoicing _. _The whole season_. That’s just to sketch out very quickly how conceited Leo can be while planning celebrations in his own honor.__

__This year, however, it seems like it’s going to be pretty different. Leo didn’t plan anything special, at least in the canonverse, which is the way Pete affectionately addresses the instance of the multi-verse which is at the core of the whole tree. He didn’t cook anything. Didn’t invite anyone over. He’s not even planning on dropping the kids with Timmy and have a nice night out with Blaine alone, perhaps even staying in a hotel for the night, which is definitely uncharacteristic for him, and also a little worrying. The moment Leo stops thinking about himself, Pete can always be sure there is something wrong going on in his mind – or outside of it, in the world._ _

__This time, Pete knows exactly what it was. He is always observing all Leos and all universes the same attentive way, to make sure everything goes on as planned and to be certain that, if something suddenly takes a bad turn and needs intervention, he will notice it in a timely fashion. But he has to admit he observes Leo in the canonverse with a little _more_ attention, and not just because of the fact that this specific instance of the universe is the one all of the others are based upon, and therefore the only one he can never afford to cut out of the tree, as it represents the very roots of the tree itself._ _

__This Leo was the first one Pete knew. The first one he saw. Incidentally, the one he very self-harmingly fell in love with. He tends to look at him with quite the extra interest._ _

__This is the reason why he knows precisely what happened, without needing to replay the whole thing on his spaceship’s control panel. He was there to witness it. (Well, not specifically _there_ in the same room. He was watching, though.)_ _

__A couple months ago, Leo and Cody – Cody, Pete’s own personal cross and delight, the crazy variable he can never predict the consequences of – texted each other while they were both watching the same movie in two different theaters, one close to where Cody lives, out in Galena, Delaware county, the other close to where Leo lives, instead, Lima, Allen county. They had the same idea at the same time, which is a weird thing that often happens between two cosmological objects – that is how the _pieces of the puzzle_ composing the wider structure of the universe are scientifically called back on his planet – so interconnected as those two are. Basically, watching that movie, a pretty awful – in Pete’s opinion – rendition of the ancient Greek tale of Cupid and Psyche, they both had an idea on how to retell that same theme in a way that was closer to their way of telling themes. Excitedly, they decided to meet the following week and start talking about it, brainstorm, see if they could work it out together, see if there was a chance, even, to work together on a common project, perhaps something written by Leo and illustrated by Cody, something that, Pete knows, Leo has been wanting to do for years, craving Cody’s company as he does and unconsciously trying to come up with any excuse to get it._ _

__Now, Leo and Cody’s relationship is complicated in basically every single instance of the universe. They’ve been together everywhere, somewhere they are _still_ together, and Cody is always a huge part of Leo’s life, sometimes even as part of life-changing events. In canonverse, they used to be boyfriends, back in college, but naturally that had to be over the moment Blaine came back to reclaim Leo and steer the universe back on its prearranged tracks. Except that Leo couldn’t quite bring himself to end it between them with the appropriate amount of finality. Basically, he backed away from this obligation for as long as he possibly could, and he only broke up with the boy when he had nothing else to do. He did it too quickly, too suddenly and unfortunately not making it clear enough that there would never be a chance for them to happen – and that mostly because he himself doesn’t want to admit that they don’t have a chance to happen._ _

__Basically, the core of the problem is that Leo loves Blaine, he lives for him, he breathes for him, he cannot imagine his life without him and is set on making sure that he lives his life with him forever, _but_. But he likes Cody. He finds him ridiculously attractive. And also never truly uprooted out of his own brain the notion that Cody ultimately had to be _his_ , even though they couldn’t be together._ _

__Years of living together with Blaine didn’t change that. Having kids with him didn’t change that. Marrying him didn’t change that. Cody marrying someone else and having a child with the man didn’t change that either. Basically nothing managed and probably nothing could ever change that, because, simply put, Leo loves Blaine but is and will forever be smitten with Cody too, and there’s no changing this simple fact that, more often than not, gives Pete more headaches than it should._ _

__So, working on a project together seemed to Leo a pretty good thing. He could spend time with Cody with a logic excuse. He could have a chance to snatch him away from Vince, Cody’s husband, for a few hours every week. He would have a chance to create something artistic together with him, which is probably the closest thing to sex he can have with Cody in this instance of the universe. What could possibly go wrong with that?_ _

__Well, something _had to_ , of course. And if Leo knew himself just a little better, he would’ve guessed it, and he would’ve understood it would’ve been better not to suggest anything at all._ _

__Fact is, Leo doesn’t properly control himself when Cody’s around. The kind of attraction they have, cosmologically speaking, is part of the reason why, but the biggest part is that Leo never truly learned the art of denying himself something when you’re not supposed to have it – he’s convinced he deserves to have it all, and most importantly he’s convinced that it is right and fair and harmless if he ends up having it all. So he will _always_ try to have it all, no matter if consciously or unconsciously._ _

__His usual physiological reaction with Cody involves getting closer to him, becoming very touchy, slip into the natural intimacy that subsisted between them back when they were in college, and that he still aches for._ _

__That’s what he did when, last month, Cody and him finally decided to meet at Leo and Blaine’s place, to spend a few hours together and start drafting an outline of their future four-handed graphic novel. The moment they were alone in Leo’s studio, Leo started invading Cody space. He started gravitating around him. He fell into a flirtatious mode and kept giving Cody hugs and random kisses. All in safe places, of course, he would never force his hand upon Cody in any way, but still. He was insistent. Distracting. Self-indulgent to the point of obnoxiousness._ _

__Cody took it, for a little while. He is the patient one between them, after all. Then, when Leo dared a kiss at the corner of his mouth, all caught up with describing the moment when their main character would finally see each other face to face in daylight after a thousand intimate encounters in the darkness, Cody gasped, put both hands on Leo’s chest and pushed back and away from him._ _

__“Please, stop,” he said weakly, looking down._ _

__Leo blinked rapidly, watching him in utter disbelief. “Doing what?” he asked, genuinely having no idea of what could possibly be wrong with the way he had behaved up to that moment._ _

__Cody looked up at him, blinking too. “What do you mean _doing what_? You almost kissed me.”_ _

__“I was playing around,” Leo said the first words he found opening the panic closet that’s always in one of the corners of the messy room he calls his brain._ _

__Cody looked at him, completely horrified. “How can you say that…?” he asked, shocked, “That’s not playing around to me.”_ _

__“Sweetness,” Leo tried to say, using his nickname in an attempt to mellow him down, “I didn’t think-- I didn’t mean it in a bad way.”_ _

__“How did you mean it, then?”_ _

__“I just meant they were just playful kisses,” Leo shook his head, raising both hands, palms towards Cody, as though he was trying to tame him, “Meaningless. Inconsequential.”_ _

__From the screen he was looking through, witnessing the whole scene, Pete could see Cody’s skin lose all its color, and he let out a strangled gasp. He loves Leo, but he sure can act like a proper dickhead, when he wants._ _

__“Well, they’re not meaningless to me,” Cody answered, his voice shaky, his eyes filling up with tears, which immediately gave Leo the measure of how widely and broadly he must’ve fucked up, “When you come close to me, when you touch me, when you kiss me, it _means_ something to me, Leo. I hate that it does and God knows I tried not to let it, but it does. So-- So-- if you have to do it and then tell me it’s meaningless,” his voice broke in a deep sob as two single tears ran down his rounded cheeks, “Then don’t.”_ _

__Pete could see understanding finally dawn in Leo’s eyes. Several minutes too late._ _

__“… Cody,” he said, moving carefully towards him, “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean that at all. Jesus, please, listen to me, let me apologize properly. You know I--”_ _

__“No, I don’t know,” Cody shook his head and backed away, looking down. “Coming here was a huge mistake. This whole project was a huge mistake.” He looked up at Leo for a moment. “Let’s just forget all about it,” he said, leaving the room._ _

__Leo couldn’t stop him. No one could._ _

__They haven’t been speaking at all, since that day, as Cody straight-out refused to answer any call or message Leo sent him, and it is killing Leo. Which is kind of sad, considering it is, after all, his birthday, and even if he doesn’t deserve a full season of celebration he should at least allow himself a little present._ _

__He doesn’t seem to be interested in it, though. Which is why Pete is intervening._ _

__He is usually the harsher judge, when it comes to Leo. He loves him, sure, but he has also seen him do unspeakably ugly, selfish and cruel things in his various instances of the tree-universe. He knows what Leo is capable of and he never denies it. It is, after all, one of the first things they taught him in school, back on his planet: never ignore ugly characteristics of the cosmological objects pertaining to your universe, even though you dislike them. Always be perfectly aware of what they mean, and what they can produce as consequences, as that is the only way to handle them. So he is aware that Leo fucked up, and pretty badly, with Cody. Still, seeing him so sad affects him, and he wants to try and fix this, if only for a little while._ _

__He opens the glass door that, from the garden – where he parked his pod –, introduces him into the sitting room, where Leo’s moping around, half-lying on the huge angular couch with a noisy portable console in his hands. That would give him a hint, if he ever needed it, of how bad he must feel: Leo never keeps the music on, when he plays. The fact that he’s doing it today means he doesn’t wanna be disturbed by anyone, that he wants to keep himself protected into the shiny, colorful, only virtual 3D world created by his game._ _

__“Hey,” Pete says, sitting down next to him, “Happy birthday.”_ _

__Leo looks up at him, his expression unchanging. He takes a rapid look at the pod parked outside and then goes back to the game. “Nothing happy about today,” he says, “Or the day before. Or the day before, for that matter.”_ _

__“Yeah, I know.”_ _

__Leo frowns, taking another look at him. Then he rolls his eyes. “You spied again.”_ _

__“That’s not spying. That’s doing my job.”_ _

__“Invading my privacy.”_ _

__“I was just making sure you were okay.”_ _

__“Nothing could have gone wrong, you didn’t need to check out on me.”_ _

__“And yet, something did.”_ _

__Leo frowns again and finally puts down his console. “I mean that I would have never done anything to put the universe at risk,” he precises, quite angrily, “I hope you can admit at least that.”_ _

__“Leo-- wait a second,” Pete sighs and faces him, trying to placate him. “I don’t wanna fight. Actually, I came here to try and cheer you up.”_ _

__“You could’ve fooled me.”_ _

__“I’m serious. I know you wouldn’t have done anything too dangerous. I trust you with that. I was just worried because you know how you get when Cody’s around.”_ _

__“Well, now you can sleep easy the rest of your life, since I’m _never_ gonna have him around ever again.”_ _

__Pete sighs, trying to gather all his patience. “Listen… I have a present for you,” he says, cutting the argument short as, he knows, he can’t win this fight with Leo, “I wanna show you something.”_ _

__“What?” Leo asks, narrowing his eyes, “Where?”_ _

__“It’s a surprise,” Pete rolls his eyes and stands up, holding his hand out for him. “Are you coming?”_ _

__Luckily, no matter his mood, Leo has never been able to refuse a trip on Pete’s spaceship._ _

____

*

“I don’t get it,” Leo frowns, confused, “With all the universes that there are out there, you want to cheer me up and to do so you take me to a boring universe that’s totally like my own. I know we have sex slaves, out there. We have aliens. Witches. We have dragons! Take me to the dragons.”

“I’m not taking you to the dragons, Leo,” Pete sighs, leading him behind a bush in the garden of a house in all equal to the house Leo already lives in, in his own universe, and yet holding something completely different, something he wants Leo to see. “Now be patient and observe.”

Leo huffs, but he keeps silence and watches through the window. Leo coming downstairs and preparing breakfast. A ridiculous amount of food, among which some chocolate chips pancakes which are not exactly common in his house. Then Blaine comes back from his usual jogging. They wake the children. They have breakfast with the children. Blaine has a shower, then takes the kids to school. All pretty idyllic, yes, but not exactly show-stopping to witness. Happens all the time back in his home too.

Then something else happens. The Leo inside the house gets out too, and Leo frowns once again, looking towards Pete. “What now?” he says.

“Now we get inside,” Pete smiles. He leads him across the garden and into the house, which is silent, warm and smells like milk, chocolate and freshly cut fruit. 

Leo doesn’t seem much impressed. Pete knows he likes to see universes where Blaine and him are completely, perfectly happy, but every time they travel together he’s always expecting something incredible, and he doesn’t feel like he’s gonna find it in here. He still doesn’t know what Pete has got in store for him.

“Leo?” Cody says from the top of the stairs. By the time he appears, Pete has already hid, and Leo turns around to search for him, but doesn’t find him. Pete tries not to chuckle seeing how confused and embarrassed he is. Cody’s only wearing a long t-shirt Leo seems to recognize quite well – obviously: it’s one of his own –, he’s got messy, sleepy hair and a smile so sweet twisting the corners of his lips upwards it would melt the mountains. “I thought you had to meet Mark this morning. I’m sorry, if I had known I’d have woken up earlier.”

“Ah… uh--, don’t worry, it’s okay,” Leo says, just to say something.

Cody climbs down the stairs and smiles when he sees the table, already set for breakfast and literally covered in food. “You let all of this for me?” Cody chuckles, and then he turns towards Leo and gives him a little kiss on his lips, standing out on his tiptoes to reach up for him. He literally looks the cutest. Leo is so dumbstruck he barely reacts. “Thank you. I’m so hungry. But I wanna shower first, last night was really messy.”

“Last night…?” Leo utters in a strangled voice.

Cody chuckles again, crossing his arms behind his back in an outrageous at the same time innocent and inviting pose. “Don’t tell me you forgot already, that would break my heart. I don’t think I’ll ever forget it.”

Leo swallows, his brain slowly catching up. When he parts his lips to speak again, they’re quivering. “Remind me nonetheless.”

Cody blushes a little, but smiles even brighter. It’s obvious he’s used to being asked such questions. “It was our night and you thought we deserved something huge. So you got me to wear something kinky,” he chuckles and covers his face in embarrassment. “The bra and those lacy panties. And then you took me with those panties still on me. Again and again…” he pauses for a second, sighing dreamily, “And again.”

Leo is shaken to his core, this much is evident. Pete smiles to himself and shakes his head.

“… right,” Leo says, “How could I ever forget?” Then he comes up with a smile, and opens his arms wide. “Come here, sweetness.” Cody flies in his arms, chuckling happily, like a kid. Leo kisses him on top of his head, his eyes closed, completely lost in the moment. He squeezes him close, feels the softness of his body against his skin, inhales his delicious scent, then finally sighs. “You’re so pretty, today,” he whispers.

Cody chuckles and looks up, receiving a nice little kiss on his lips. “You look handsome, instead. Are your hair shorter? I didn’t notice yesterday.”

Leo smiles. “It’s just an illusion, I haven’t showered yet. They’ll be back to normal later. Now give me a proper kiss.”

“Just one…” Cody whispers, “You know we have rules.”

“Mmh,” Leo nods and parts his lips, kissing Cody like he hasn’t for years. He’s acutely aware of the fact that this isn’t _his_ Cody, that he could never measure up with the boy who still haunts his dreams after all these years, but it’s something, and Pete knows he appreciates it.

The kiss dies down, Cody runs back upstairs for his shower. Leo takes a second for himself, to inhale and exhale and centers himself again. Then calls for Pete, who comes out of his hiding place.

“Did you like your present?” Pete asks.

Leo leans against him, resting his forehead against Pete’s shoulder. “Take me away from here.”

*

“I was uncertain about taking you there, I wasn’t sure you’d enjoy it. But I wanted you to see that.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s a nice thing to know, isn’t it?”

Leo sighs, sitting down on one of the seats of the spaceship. “A bit frustrating,” he admits, “How does that work?”

“There have been a series of circumstances I’m not gonna disclose with you right now. Long story short, those circumstances led Cody back between Leo’s arms. This destroyed his relationship with Vince, naturally, not so much your relationship with Blaine, because in here as anywhere else he is a martyr saint. He understood what was going on with the two of you and decided to allow you to keep Cody as an in-house lover. With a set of rules, of course, that you both follow religiously not to anger him.”

“Which are?”

“Mmh,” Pete tries to remember them all, “No touching above the belt, kissing is admitted but keeping the energy at a minimum, then there are scheduled days when you’re allowed to just do whatever you want. It’s not ideal, but it’s how you work it out over there. Blaine accepts it. Sometimes he enjoys the sighs as the audience, even. And at least you can have him. In some form.”

Leo lets out a shaky laughter, looking down. “How do I even resist on those days when I can’t have him?”

“You know how important it is not to break the rules,” Pete says with a smile, “And it’s important to you too, you know. Back home. You’ve got to understand… there are rules to everything. You can’t just…” he sighs, “You know what happened with Cody last month. You just took for granted you could move on him however you wanted. But you’ve gotta have rules for that too. Or you’ll end up hurting him.”

“I would never hurt him on purpose.”

“That doesn’t mean you _couldn’t_ accidentally hurt him anyway.”

Leo tenses and remains silent for a moment. Then he exhales, releasing his tension and passing his fingers through his messy hair. “I’ll go see him once we’re back home. I’ll apologize. I will ask him to tell me what I can do and what I can’t, and then I’ll play by his rules. Promise. I’ll be good.”

Pete smiles, nodding slowly. “Do you trust him enough to establish them?”

“Oh, absolutely,” Leo smirks, “If there’s one thing I taught him, is to speak out about what he wants. He will make sure I understand.”

Pete nods again, satisfied.

“Happy birthday,” he repeats.

Leo grins. “Now it is. Thank you.”


End file.
